One Kiss At A Time
by LadybirdSparrow
Summary: The dull and hard life of a Quirkless orphan teen was about to change at the peak of an unknown villain's murder spree, while a new pro hero was debuting and will do whatever it takes to take over the world, one kiss at a time. (A Harry Potter/Tom Riddle fanfic with a "what if instead of magic they have quirks" Fusion AU.)
1. Chapter 1 - When Life Smells Like Lemons

"Could you please repeat that, Mrs. Figg?"

Harry twisted his fingers under the table unconsciously. His tea was forgotten as he tried to meet his old employer's eyes. Was it said in jest? Where was the compassion? Did he do something wrong? But since he had met her for the first time when he was only five, he could never tell where her eyes were located in her literal cabbage head.

"I'm very sorry, dear. An inspector already flagged the café. I know it's hard but as much as I would like to keep you working here with my cats, I can't risk violating the age restriction for employed minors again and be forced to close up the shop! I hope you understand, dear." She's one of the very few adults kind enough towards him but the pat on his shoulder did not reassure him as it did before.

"But I'm already sixteen."

"Oh, dear. Haven't you heard the news? A new law has been passed a few days ago." At the boy's confused gaze, Mrs. Figg realized her mistake.

"Oh, right. It's not right that the Dursleys wouldn't even provide you with any tech. Not right at all! How will you learn anything about the world if you're not connected?" She shook her leafy cabbage head and stood up to get her tablet from the charging port on the counter. Mr. Tibbles, the café's star, jumped on the vacated chair and hissed at Harry before grooming himself that made the room smell like lemons.

Harry looked down at his cup with dozens of yellow smiley prints that he always used. The only one from the older tea sets that survived when the cupboard crashed from a villain attack last month. He did have an outdated smartphone last year but it was 'accidentally' smashed beyond repair by his whale cousin. Getting a replacement wasn't his priority at the moment. Financial aid for people like him will stop once he reaches the age of seventeen. Without the monthly stipend from the government, the Dursleys will no doubt kick him out of the house. His meager savings were enough for school projects and everyday meals but definitely not enough for a bed space.

"Here we are, dear." The old lady sat on the other available chair next to Harry and placed her faulty tablet beside the plate of biscuits, instead of shooing Mr. Tibbles away. A couple of taps and swipes to close the hundreds of open applications later, the tablet finally stopped freezing up.

The hologram opened up with the Daily Prophet's logo then transitioned immediately to the latest news article written by Rita Skeeter, complete with a large high quality looped moving photo of the Prime Minister waving and smiling at the camera.

LEGAL MINIMUM WORKING AGE FOR UNDERAGE QUIRKLESS CITIZENS HAD BEEN PUSHED TO NINETEEN YEARS OLD

The recent unsolved murders of the quirkless children in Britain, had compelled the ministry to take action to protect our helpless citizens. Prime Minister Cornelius Fudge had been disappointed with the lack of progress from the pro hero side, and was rightfully infuriated by the endless excuses given by the former Head of Professional Hero Association and the current Headmaster of Hogwarts University, Albus Dumbledore, at a press conference a week ago. Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge had proposed that the-

"Mr. Tibbles! Oh, you naughty naughty boy." Mrs. Figg cried and her cat meowed back. The hologram was deactivated by his paws. Mr. Tibbles must be hungry again because the lemon scent had switched to baked apples. The old lady tried to carry him off the table but the cat would just wriggle out of her arms.

"Don't worry, Harry. I'll bring it right back up-"

"It's alright, Mrs. Figg. I've read enough." The boy stood up to leave. His heart was racing. His fingers were tingling. Reading an article won't change a thing and he can't do anything about it.

"I've already transferred your last paycheck to your account." The old lady gave up wrestling the cat and wrapped her arms around Harry instead. "You're always welcome here, dear. Don't you forget that."

Harry's lips twitched and forced his face to give the old lady a smile when she let him go. The boy wasn't successful judging from Mrs. Figg's expression. All that Harry knew was that the room was too stuffy and he was getting dizzy. He wanted to get out fast.

The café door banged open and Harry ran. Out of Privet Drive. Out of Little Whinging. Out of Surrey. He was afraid of what will happen if he ever stopped running.


	2. Chapter 2 - X Equals Strings Pulled

Tom Riddle had just finished rereading an email he was about to send. He locked the phone for now then pocketed the device. Tom kept a low profile while he observed. He was currently in a newly built conference hall, along with his fellow recent graduates from various schools, mixed with some of the most experienced heroes with varying levels of recognition. All of them were waiting for the chairman to arrive. Not wanting attention from the Hogwarts alumni, he kept his hood up and face hidden from others.

Most of the seasoned heroes were engrossed with their devices or hero gears, but the few famous individuals had grouped themselves and were locked in a rather heated debate about recent government politics. Hero Mad-Eye was particularly loud with his arguments with the vampiric underground hero, Half-Blood, who remained as stoic as ever.

Nearly all of the rookies settled to eagerly watch them verbally spar with one another. Tom noticed that the rest of the rookies, who weren't openly enjoying the show, looked nervous. As for him, he was excited, but there was still a slight annoyance simmering underneath.

His body was still a bit sore from yesterday's Danger Level Examination. The pain doesn't bother him per se, but it served as a reminder of the result he had gotten from it. With a quiet sigh, he ran his thumb on the hero pin held between his fingers to activate it. It read his biosignature and his license information was displayed. Tom stared at the tiny hologram projection for the seventh time that morning.

-National Hero License-

Hero Name: Voldemort

Civilian Name: Riddle, Tom Marvolo

Date of Birth: 31-12-2978

Quirk: Parseltongue

DLC: X

Issued: 8-6-2997

Expires: 8-6-3002

Tom's brow twitched in irritation. His DLC or Danger Level Category was added yesterday. It only had a single X listed. He knew it, he already saw it and he knew who was responsible for why his quirk was classed so low. He swore to himself that if a person was stupid enough to say how weak and boring his quirk was based on this info, he would feed them to his snake.

The door slid open and this agency's chairman, Albus Dumbledore, ambled in. The old man looked fondly at the recruits that will become a part of the once defunct hero agency he was trying to revive. He smiled warmly at them. He also conversed briefly with a few selected individuals he personally knew while directing them all to take their seats. All of them settled down on their chairs after a few greetings, handshaking and blatant hero-worshipping from the young rookies. The atmosphere was getting excessively friendly until his blue twinkly eyes landed on Tom.

At first, there was a clear surprise in his widened eyes. Then his smile faded off his face and Tom was met with a cold stare. Tom tempered down his need to smirk. Instead, he discreetly pulled out the phone again and unlocked it. It wouldn't do to antagonize his boss on his incoming debut.

"Mr. Riddle, I'm afraid there must've been a mistake. This hero agency only sent invitations to selected individuals. We never offered a position to you, as far as I could remember."

It seemed that their future commander-in-chief wanted to play dirty in singling him out. Too early but Tom had expected it. The old man's hatred for Tom was widely known to everyone at Hogwarts after Myrtle's incident.

He wanted to laugh. Dumbledore saw great potential in him back when he was still the little orphan boy he traded ideologies with underneath a waiting shed. Then one day the old man offered a recommendation slot for him in the hero course at Hogwarts University and he accepted. He never really wanted to be a hero at first but he would do anything to get out of the orphanage.

One tap on the phone hidden under the table and the message was sent.

The old man's phone pinged and he took a quick look at the notifications that popped up on his wristwatch. He was about to speak again but instead, his brows furrowed before he pulled out his phone and flicked the screen to open the message. Then the old man's eyebrows went up.

It wouldn't do to antagonize his boss on his debut before he could see what the prime minister had demanded of him. Demands that the old man could have bargained with if he had enough time to know what's in them. Demands in exchange for his fancy dead hero agency to operate again without going through the proper channels, of course.

"Ah, I see. Weatherby sent The Minister's 'recommendation' letter late yet again." Tom's voice was calm and composed. He purposely used the same incorrect name that Weasley gets from his own boss. Tom knew how close the Weasleys were with Dumbledore. On that principle alone, the Weasleys hated him too.

Except Percy, who was currently ostracized by his family for working and siding with the ministry. Tom and Percy were never friends. Their common ground was vindication. Percy felt slighted by the old man, however indirectly it was through his family's actions, just for having differing opinions. Tom just wanted revenge. A lot of it.

With the blessing from the senior undersecretary, the two had formulated this inane plan to send the lists of demands as late as possible. The press was waiting outside for the contract signing. Tables and cameras were already set up for live broadcasts. Not to mention, young heroes these days were also 'gossips' themselves. Nobody here would have a chance to know what was in the letter, except for the two of them and probably the old man's consorts, but the rest will wonder.

Dumbledore won't have enough time to maneuver Tom out from the list in private if the young man was already in the photos and news articles where he was introduced as a member. Tom could be edited out later if only the largest news publication in Britain were on Dumbledore's side.

Tom promised to give Percy's phone back tonight. His payment will come much later in the form of introductions to influential people in the next upcoming gala. With all the issues the ministry had piled up against Dumbledore clamoring for his attention, give or take, this will give Tom about a month's time within the agency to prove his worth. Riding out the controversy of this undead agency would be the best publicity.

"Well then." The chairman addressed all of his new recruits and sighed. Tom felt giddy on winning this round and his crimson eyes became brighter for a bit.

"I'll make this short but for the sake of formalities, I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, also known as Hero Warlock and I welcome you all to The Order of the Phoenix."


	3. Chapter 3 - Politically Declined Harry

The sound of book pages that flipped abnormally fast could be mistaken as a card shuffle. If anybody else did it, they probably risk getting creases on paperback covers and Hermione's wrath. She could read them faster than anyone without damaging them with her Speed Read quirk and her delicate handling of the books. Although her quirk wasn't enough to let her in the hero course, she dazzled everyone in management studies.

Hermione noticed him when her light brown eyes met Harry's deep green gaze in the mirror on her desk. Her eyes bled with so much concern that made Harry's inside squirm a little bit. She gently placed the ninth book she was reading on the stack neatly piled on the small rolling cart rack to her left. It was barely an inch thick and his best friend finished reading it within seconds with the help of her quirk. Her chair swiveled to face him and the look on her face had already changed into a relaxed and warm expression.

Harry was curled up sitting on the floor in the corner of her office with his chin propped on his knees. His back rests on the airtight laminated glass shelves that contain more of the rare, old and expensive books. All of them ready to be auctioned online.

"Have you finally calmed down, Harry?"

If somebody asked him the details on how he reached Hermione's workplace, 'The Lonely Gargoyle', he won't be able to answer. It was quite far from where he was before. All he could remember was him running while he cried and let his feet take him wherever it decided to. Then his tunneled vision self was at the back door of the bookstore and Hermione's massive curly brown hair was all over his face. It was lucky he got here safe in that kind of state of mind.

Hermione removed her gloves and apron before she hung them on the wall. Then she went towards Harry and sat on the floor beside him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" She put her elegant freckled hand on the back of his pale bony one with a grotesque scar. He lightly shifted his arm away from her touch.

"Ugh, fun. Where do I start?" Harry removed his cracked eyeglasses to wipe them clean with his shirt while his lips tried to form a sad smile. "Um, I guess, I won't be able to give free food to your goblin cat from now on." Hermione snorted.

"My cat would benefit from it. You've spoiled Crookshanks so bad."

"I did not! I was trying to make him love me but after all the treats I gave him, he's still a fat snobbish goblin." His best friend chuckled again then slowly breathed out.

"Seriously, Harry. What happened?"

They resettled to the couches with a cup of tea for Hermione and a soda bottle for Harry. She turned the security monitor towards them so that Hermione could still see what's going on in the book exhibit side of the shop. The Lonely Gargoyle was one of the oldest bookstores in London and one of the last few bookstores left standing. Although technically the store wasn't a bookstore anymore.

To survive the printing industry collapse that the ministry had instigated almost a decade ago, The Lonely Gargoyle stores had shifted their demographic away from the masses and catered to a niche that could offer them more money. The public knew there was more going on behind the scenes but they basically turned into an auction house that curated 'donated' physical copies of books: from the old and rare publications of centuries past; to the few newly published books the ministry had deemed safe and appropriate. Regular bookstores still open every now and then, but they tend to close down soon after because of ministry inspections. Digital books sold online though was a very different war with the government.

After a few silent moments shared between the two friends, Harry was comfortable enough and told her how he lost his job at the café. Which also added more glum into the mix because the place held sentimental value for them. It's where they met after trying to keep two cats with quirks to stop fighting. Harry was also the one who coaxed Hermione to adopt Crookshanks because the cat got attached to her. They became friends soon after that.

But when the topic shifted to why Mrs. Figg was forced to fire him however, Hermione became enraged. His friend already knew about the revised law but she didn't believe that Harry would be so badly affected by it. She then pulled out her phone and checked multiple government websites and news articles to better assess Harry's predicament while they were still engaged in their discussion. And apparently, Hermione was dissatisfied with the heroes a little bit but she blames the ministry, the police force, and the press entirely in making things worse.

"The Daily Prophet is the poison that the ministry was using to keep the public sedated! They don't understand how delicate the situation heroes had in regards to this case." She poured her fourth cup since they started talking. "And the police should be working with the heroes during the investigation. I'd wager some people these days believe that the police only existed to escort villains that heroes apprehend to prison!"

"Gee, breathe while the air's still free." He only had a couple of sips of his drink and decided not to finish it. It was lemon flavored and smelled so strongly of it that his minuscule ego wanted to be bitter about lemons today. "And frankly, I don't care about all of that rubbish."

"You should be, Harry. It concerns you too!"

"Yeah because old quirkless me is so stoked to meet this serial killer apparently. It's so good you have a quirk, Hermione."

That stopped his friend's tirade. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and frustratedly dug his nails into his scalp. He noticed how his friend looked at his lightning bolt scar over his right eyebrow for a moment. It made Harry too conscious and quickly pull his bangs back down again to hide it.

"Look, Hermione," he said with both palms facing up. "We never saw any hints about the financial aid adjusting to accommodate this revised age law. If it doesn't change, next year would be the last time that the Dursleys will get money from the government because I've been so lucky to be born with no quirks. Honestly, it'll be better if this villain just snatches me away and get this over and done with." Harry was taken aback when Hermione stood up so fast. She positioned herself in front of him, her body shook in righteous fury.

"Don't be ridiculous Harry! It's new, of course, someone will notice or file a petition for it maybe in a week or two. You've got to not lose hope. And I've told you so many times, you have to get out of that house somehow. You have to!"

"We all very well know what happens when I do. Nobody listens to people like me, Hermione. How the fuck can you not understand that?"

Hermione's clawed fingers curled further into fists and she let out a long-drawn-out groan before she grasped onto her curls and screeched at him. Harry shield himself with his arms and had to look away. Then his eyes landed onto the security monitor and saw something weird.

"Hermione, stop. Stop!" She had already proceeded to hit him with the sofa cushions. "Look! There's someone messing with the bookshelves."

Hermione gasped. She dropped her weapon to the floor and ran to the security monitor with Harry at her heels. She found that all of the alarms were turned off and the emergency button to alert the police doesn't work. Seconds later, the live camera footage went offline simultaneously.

"Fuck." They both said at the same time. Then Harry followed a frantic Hermione out of her office.


	4. Chapter 4 - Gang of Fools

The press conference went smoothly. Too smoothly in Tom's opinion. It only lasted a little under thirty minutes. He was disappointed to know that questions from the press had already been preapproved before hand. They still had their group photos taken, signed his official contract with the agency and it seemed like Rita Skeeter wanted to interview him in the future. He'll just have to make sure they don't stick him in sidekick duty longer than a week. Even though he already earned full credits as a rookie during holidays in the last two years of his hero education, Dumbledore doesn't want to acknowledge it. As if Tom was the only one who went through this route.

Then it only took them a little over ten minutes to sort out their respective teams. Possibly preplanned too and that the short meeting between the team leaders and the chairman was to figure out where to put him.

He was sure that the old man probably did it to humiliate him. Tom had at least expected to be placed under Half-Blood or Mad-Eye. Or even under the guidance of that retired hero, the old stern humanoid cat, Shift. Tom would often spot the old lady looking at him with such grief back at Hogwarts when she thought he wasn't aware he was being observed.

It would be logical that they would put him where he could be contained or controlled because Dumbledore doesn't trust him. But instead, he got the softest hero leader there was. A bloody Hufflepuff. Pro hero metamorph Tonks who also thought it would be creative to have her hero alias as Tonks. And then there were the questionable teammates.

"Hi, I'm Luna Lovegood, also known as Quibbler. I'm from Hogwarts too! I'm fifteen years old and I hope we could be friends!"

Tom's youngest teammate held out her hand towards him. She smiled creepily and stared with her wide silver eyes that seemed to penetrate his soul. Tom blinked, sidestepped her hand and took a seat far away from the weird girl who wore radish earrings.

He already knew her back from Hogwarts, of course. In his eyes, being shunned and bullied by her own house without fighting back is weak. She may have done well academically but he strongly suspected that the instructors took pity on her.

He did attempt to get to know her just for her grades alone. But her files were classified and anybody he asked wasn't interested in giving out information. He was sure that the staff had put a lock on her files to not sully Hogwarts' reputation just like with Myrtle's case. And that Lovegood being a victim of bullying was the only reason why she got to accelerate. There's nothing special about her and Tom detested weak and useless people who rely on pity to survive.

"Oh my god. We got the accelerated baybey!" Tom barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

Tonks snatched Lovegood's hand and pumped it so strongly for several times.

"And I really really like your hair." Their leader's pink and short spiky hair grew as long and blonde as Lovegood's which swept the floor. The fifteen-year old giggled.

"Thanks! I love your previous hair too though. I think it suits you better."

Tom wanted this torture to end but it seemed like it was about to get worse. The door slid open and the two identical demons from Hogwarts went in. Wildfire and Whizbang. Their eyes roamed the small room for a second then headed straight for Tom when they spotted him.

"Hey, even if our big-headed brother Percy," said the one on the left.

"Was such a bloody prick with a stick up his arse," continued seamlessly the one on the right.

"Stay away from him, snake boy!" They both finished with floating sparklers in both their hands. One activated by finger snaps, the other with overly dramatic hand gestures. Tom found their intimidation tactics lacking but highly amusing.

"Well, look at that. All four houses. Let's make Hogwarts proud team!" Tonks, with her short pink hair back on her head, punched her fist into the air but nobody reacted to match her energetic hurrah. "We'll fix that later. For now though, now that we're all here, why don't you all take a seat so we could start introducing ourselves."

"Wait that's it? The other three hero teams had at least ten members when we took a peek." One of the twins complained.

"Don't worry, brother of mine, at least we all could bond and get to know each other better." The second twin answered.

"Except for Riddle, of course." They ended at the same time again. Tom had enough. With a hiss, he called out his favorite venomous snake. A green hooded twelve feet snake materialized out of thin air in front of him. Nagini showed her fangs that dripped with venom.

"Oh, yeah?" Wildfire snapped his fingers and a Catherine Wheel blazed to life.

"We're not afraid of your giant worm, snake boy." Whizbang's jazz hands brought tiny firecrackers popping.

"Boys! Stop it. Put those fireworks out!" Tonks was ignored.

"All the smoke makes it very hard to breathe indoors, why don't you douse it for now?" Lovegood asked with a breathy voice and the firecrackers disappeared. The twins stared at their hands in confusion then backed away from her. "That's better."

Then she crouched near the snake and pointed her finger as if reprimanding a naughty child. Again, her voice held that breathy tone.

"And that was very rude of you miss, you need a timeout!" To Tom's surprise, Nagini hissed an apology that nobody in the room could understand but him. The snake then slithered away to a corner facing the wall. Tom faced Quibbler and started to look at her in a different light.

"A brainwash quirk?" He asked with a raised brow.

"No. Just a quirk critic," Quibbler replied with that damn creepy smile. Tom leaned in.

"How does it work?" The twins pulled their youngest teammate away from him.

Tonk's phone rang then she pressed a button on her communicator. Earpiece already lodged in her ear.

"Everyone!" This time, their leader was successful in getting her team's attention. Her demeanor had changed. Pro Hero Tonks were in front of them. "We're the nearest hero agency the police could contact for this one. All the other hero teams were busy with the bigger missions. So it's up to us to resolve this situation. Gather your gears and prepare yourselves!" Tonks then activated her device's holo-keypad and started to gather information they need.

"Ooh! Is a little kitty stuck on a tree?" Lovegood piped behind the devil duo who joined in with their foolish guesses.

"Might be helping an old goose cross the road, what do you think Forge?"

"I bet we'll fight the goose so we could free the kitty on the tree, Gred."

"Plot twist. The kitty's a wittle viwwain aww awong!"

The twin's laughter was cut off by their leader.

"Burglary in Finsbury. It already escalated to a hostage situation. Five hostages, one injured. An unknown number of assailants and quirks. We'll have to make plans on the way. Let's go."

In the security footage, almost out of the camera's range, a blond masked man rubbed his palm in circles onto the side of the steel bookshelf before all the cameras got disconnected. Hermione with Harry closely following behind, rushed out of the store's office immediately after that.

Out in the hallway, Harry noticed a large beefy man who looked like a troll with his greyish-green skin tone walking towards them. He quickly yanked Hermione into the storage room next door with him and locked the door in time before the man slammed his body onto it.

"Bloody shit. Fuck!" Hermione quickly pulled out her phone and dialed 999. Harry looked around to see if there's anything he could use to arm himself. The villain continued to ram the door for the second time. The door started to fracture.

"Hello? Yes. There are burglars in my store." Luckily, Harry found a fully charged nail gun and a crowbar. He handed the nail gun to Hermione who was still on the line and he readied himself to swing hard. Both of them shook in fear while they lie in wait.

"Yes! Yes? I don't know. Two maybe? One has a gigantification quirk but I'm not sure. He's really big."

Black smoke started to seep through the cracks. The door finally shattered open. Harry and Hermione shrieked in fright as wooden debris was thrown at them by the strong impact.

The giant man grinned widely as he jerked his arm back and aimed to punch Harry. Throughout the panic, Harry hadn't realized that Hermione managed to get close physical contact with the huge man. The contact of the power tool to flesh had released the safety lock on the frontal part of the nail gun, and his friend shot a nail that punched through the giant's left thigh.

The villain twisted his body away, hunched down and howled in pain. In a follow-up to Hermione's attack, Harry swung his crowbar towards the villain's head. However, his momentum was ruined by a dark-skinned hand that formed from the black smoke. The hand gripped the crowbar away from the giant's head and out of Harry's hand. Then a face with a bored expression formed from the black smoke and hovered above them.

"What a fucking mess." The smoky figure said.

Harry heard an incomprehensible yell that came from his friend. He only had a split second to notice the crowbar aimed towards the side of his head.


	5. Chapter 5 - Mama, Were All Full of Lies

"Wotcher, team!" Tonk's greeted them from the driver's seat after rolling the window down.

The agency issued a van for their mission. Tom was disconcerted to find it was an automated model with a low-level clearance. It meant that even though they were heroes assigned with a time-sensitive mission, they were not above most traffic laws.

After all of them were seated with their seatbelts on, Hero Tonks turned her body towards them from the driver's seat to ask Lovegood a question.

"Quibbler, how many quibbles do you have left for today?"

The fifteen-year-old was seated beside Tom. She was more interested in the computer panel in front of her rather than giving Tonks her full attention.

"Four." Lovegood told their leader in an absent-minded manner.

"Bugger. Save them up! Only use them in dire situations," Tonks quickly replied. The girl just nodded along without taking her eyes off the panel, then Tonk's carried on with her assertions. "I'm assigning our baby on standby today. No more fighting guys!"

Irritation surged through Tom when he saw one of the demon twins playing with a c-flash. He was rolling it over his knuckles like a regular coin while whispering to his snickering brother. It was not a toy but a support item that could blind them all if he accidentally activated it. He breathed in deeply and tried to ignore them for now. The van started to move. Tom hadn't noticed when their leader had keyed in their destination.

"Team! Ugh, cobblers. I'm not used to being a leader." Tonks commented then tittered at them. Tom could only sigh at Tonk's careless show of ineptitude in guiding this hero team. "Just… wait for my orders, everyone."

For a split second, their leader's hair flashed a multitude of colors. Then she pulled out her phone to call the police that had contacted their agency earlier. She cleared out her throat before she began to talk with the officer in charge in a very friendly tone.

Tom shook his head at what he had witnessed and shifted his attention towards his seatmate. A glance at Lovegood's panel told him that she was searching for relevant information regarding the suspects and the hostages in the quirk database. She also had files opened about the bookstore's employees in a side panel.

"You have a limit on your quirk and you wasted it on us?" One of the twins in front of them asked.

He really doesn't care who of the two had asked. Tom just rolled his eyes and engaged himself with digging around for information too. Using his phone, he checked if there were any live updates from the media regarding the hostage situation. There was something that bugged him about it. Aside from the absurdity of what villains would want with a bookshop, he still couldn't figure out why a mission like this was given to them.

"I don't like my friends fighting," Quibbler responded after a distracted moment and Tom couldn't stop his smirk from forming.

Such tasteful deceit. Lovegood wasn't a friend . She managed to grab the perfect opportunity to place herself higher among their colleagues with her earlier demonstration. Tom had to mentally applaud her just for that. For someone considered to be a social pariah at school and somebody so young, Lovegood had so much potential to be a powerful individual. She was an entirely different beast, someone much better, someone like him. The only thing that quite irked him was her giving in to be bullied by her housemates and her willingness to lower herself with the barbarians from House Gryffindor.

"Friends? Don't pull a Hufflepuff. I thought you were a Ravenclaw?" Tom told his budding rival in a condescending tone paired with the patented Slytherin smirk.

Lovegood queried with a dumbfounded stare. She looked at them with an expression that showed she had missed the point of Tom's remark.

"But… I'm not pulling Hero Tonks? And yes, I am a Ravenclaw."

The twins snickered at her answer and Tom glowered at them. They were laughing at him. Again.

"Be careful Luna. Haven't you heard?" the demon on the right asked and the demon on the left answered his brother.

"Tom Riddle gets his partners killed."

Then they bantered again in that agonizing back and forth way that makes Tom want to pull their tongues out.

"Ooh, but you got it all wrong, Forge."

"Ah, of course, Gred."

"If you turn your back on him,"

"He'll strike."

"He'll bite."

"He'll swallow you whole."

Then they both annoyingly finished at the same time complete with a pair of ten wriggling fingers.

"A venomous snake. That's what he is."

Lovegood giggled but the twins stiffened when Tom hissed and a black cobra draped on one of the twin's shoulders.

"Do you want to volunteer first?" He gave both of them his coldest smile.

"Please stop that, you guys. What have I told you earlier? Seriously, we got a situation here!" Tonk's panicked voice broke out.

Tom's eyebrow twitched. He hissed at his snake and it vanished.

"Good." With a little bit more confidence, their leader addressed them all. "Now, what do we know about the mission?"

"Is this a bloody pop quiz?" One of the twins elbowed his brother after he muttered his inane question.

"Hostage situation at Finsbury. Five hostages. One was injured?" He smiled sheepishly at their leader while scratching his head.

Tom decided to chime in after rolling his eyes.

"A bookstore named 'The Lonely Gargoyle' was targeted for burglary that had escalated to a hostage situation later on. It's not clear how many villains were involved yet but aside from the blond masked man who gave out their demands via the shop's speakers, we could add two possible hostile individuals with some kind of gigantification quirk. They were recorded in the street camera footage when they entered the store."

"Right. And according to the police, their demands were a getaway vehicle and a doctor or anyone with a healing quirk to check on the injured hostage. Actually, I think we could use that," Tonks added. An idea forming in her head. Tom hoped it wasn't a dumb plan that could get them all killed.

"Wait, should we really be handling this case?" One of the demon twins intervened.

Tom understood what he meant. It was a delicate situation that should be handled by a pro hero who has experience in hostage situations.

"C'mon, you guys! They got reckless and made mistakes that back them up into a corner where it would be hard for them to make a quick escape. Either these villains were stupid or new at doing crimes. We can handle it! We will not let The Order down," Tonks said heatedly. Her hair even turned Weasley .

"But there must be some other reason why they gave this mission to a group full of rookies . No offense Tonks," Tom interjected.

"None taken," their leader replied nonchalantly.

Even though Tonks had been a pro hero for quite some time out in the field, he couldn't trust the metamorph. In fact, he doesn't trust any of them.

They finally arrived at the scene. A small crowd of journalists and civilians had already gathered in the area. Because of that, their van had to be manually parked behind two police vehicles.

Tom wondered how he could cultivate this mission to be properly milked later on. It wasn't much of an interesting case. Plus the audience was not large enough to make a grand hero debut.

Before they could open the doors of their car though, Quibbler voiced out her speculation according to the data she had gathered.

"If a famous pro hero came into the scene, there's a high chance that it might spoil an intern's cover while she's in the middle of her mission. They would attract larger media attention that could ruin her anonymity as a future underground hero." Lovegood's voice was becoming a bit breathy again.

"Future underground hero?" Tonks asked in confusion.

"Memo, Half-Blood's personal student. She's a Gryffindor from management studies but Severus took her under his wing to become an underground hero. They are invested in her. I found her file within the Order's database. Though we don't know the names of the other captives yet, Memo's cover was the bookstore's employee. She's definitely one of the hostages." The girl answered.

"And who specifically gave you this mission, Tonks?" Tom quickly asked. It stunk of the old man's manipulations.

She sighed when she gazed at his impassive expression before she replied dejectedly.

"Pro Hero Warlock."

Tom rolled his eyes. Somehow, he should have expected it.

"I'll bet fifty pounds that the bat's pestering the chief as we speak, just to be permitted to personally save his student," one of the twins said.

"I'll bet seventy that the bat's already here," his brother retorted.

"A quid," Tom added. The twins looked at Tom with raised eyebrows. "I'll bet a hundred pounds that Half-Blood won't know anything about it until it's over."

-xxx-

Hermione Granger wasn't proud to admit that her greatest weakness was any kind of physical combat. She felt wholly underprepared. Though her mentor did require her to train, it was all about agility, evasion, and stealth. And currently, she only had a few weeks in total of physical training under Half-Blood.

Though, what really drove it all down to hell was her inadequacy as a licensed hero. Granted, she only has a provisional license awarded to her by Headmaster Dumbledore when he was still the Head of Professional Hero Association. But as Hero Memo, even if she was currently undercover for a mission, she should've been capable of saving her friend. All the information stored by her quirk wasn't able to help her when she panicked in the face of real danger. She was very disappointed in herself. She deserved to have her provisional license revoked.

Her incompetence resulted in her bound up with zip ties beside three other hostages in the center of the room, while her injured friend Harry, lay unconscious beside the counter. The brutes had also tied him up. All of them had their mouths covered with duct tape. Half-Blood would remove her as his personal student for sure.

Most of the civilian hostages with her were patrons of the bookstore. One of them was a spoiled rich teen named Zacharias Smith. He tried to use a voice-based quirk to fight back but the villains had easily subdued him. He ended up with a sock in his mouth and several layers of duct tape wrapped around his head with only his nose exposed so that he could breathe.

Another one was a dainty girl named Penelope Clearwater. Penny wasn't a store patron though. She did bid for a few books but the girl only started to befriend Hermione with gossip and pastries a few days ago when she bumped into Harry. Hermione couldn't find the right moment to tell Penny that her friend doesn't fancy women. She suspected that Penny was infatuated with her friend. The poor girl even looked heartbroken when an unconscious Harry was dragged in the room with blood on his face. She's a few years older than Hermione but she screamed and knelt where she stood when the masked man had pointed a gun at her. It was understandable though, Penny had no way to fight back. She's a civilian with a weak quirk that could only make the tips of her fingers vibrate. It was smart for her that she didn't even try to defend herself, unlike Smith.

Then there was the stuttering Professor Quirrell. Harry's teacher. He taught biology in St Brutus, the district's school for the quirkless. A collector of art books and old magazines who would always win auctions for adult popup books. There was no way for him to retaliate against the villains too. Professor Quirrell's quirk could only make him sleep straight for a whole week. A quirk he considers more of a curse than a gift. After he surrendered to the villains, he fainted when he saw his bloodied student and thought he was already dead. But the professor had regained consciousness already and was currently crying next to Smith.

One of the few priceless lessons she had learned from Half-Blood's training was how to escape different kinds of bindings. It was fortunate that the large man who had bound Hermione hadn't noticed how she adjusted her arms while he worked on the zip ties. To her captors, her arms appeared tightly bound but she'll have enough wiggle room to slide the ties off her wrists when she relaxes her arms later on. She just had to find the opportunity to escape and somehow save all the hostages from these villains.

Speaking of the villains, there were four of them.

The two large men seemed to have a mutated gigantification quirk. The one who looked like a troll before had become a little bit smaller with less of the greenish tint. His troll-like appearance was replaced with more human features. The other one had a giant crab for a head but paired with a bulky muscled human body. There were also strong pincers on each side of his head, like arms for the crab, and he could make them larger or smaller at will.

Both of them were busy taking books from the ruined shelves then dropping them carelessly inside dirty canvas bags. Hermione wanted to squirm seeing how badly they mishandled her precious books.

The third villain, a blond masked man, has sandpaper hands and was currently rubbing his gritty hands over the other bulletproof glass shelves. Powdered glass as fine as cosmetic powder trickled down the floor or was easily blown by the wind. He also has an assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

The last one was the dark-skinned man that could turn into smoke. He was also the one who injured Harry. Currently, he was arguing with the masked man.

"Bollocks! I've checked their records. I've looked at their database. It's not here." The dark-skinned man had said. Parts of his body blurs at his angry sharp gestures.

"Then dig deeper, you berk. Our contact said it's in The Lonely Gargoyle's circulation. Try to connect to the other branches." The masked man commanded.

"I've already done that." The other villain tiredly replied. Their voices sounded young to Hermione's ears. She also mentally took note of their objective.

"Are these enough paper squares Draco?" The crab headed villain said in a raspy voice. He proudly raised two bags full of books to show the blond masked man.

"They are called books and those are rectangles, moron." The troll guy who limped towards the other shelf grumpily called out.

"But books were supposed to have fun colorful moving pictures. Not these boring old musty papers." Crab guy replied in a whine.

"You actually downloaded children book apps for Vincent?" Smoky person asked in a bewildered tone. In return, the masked villain looked offended.

"I was teaching him how to read. What have you done?" He retorted.

"Trying to make sure we stay alive." Smoky person sighed before he continued with a question. "Why are we taking these?"

The blond finally opened a hole large enough to pull a book from inside the glass shelf before he moved nearer towards the smoky villain.

"Since the book we're looking for isn't here, we might as well take what we can and make a profit. They're expensive and could sell high in the black market. My father used to bid millions for them. Millions! A few bags of these books and we could buy a house all to ourselves. And hey, maybe the money we could earn could bail your mother out."

Then he carefully placed the book to the smoky man's hands.

"Really?" The smoky guy held the book gently in his arms and looked at it reverently. Hermione noticed it was an old poetry book.

"Yes. Will you stop complaining now Blaise?"

"Fine. But we need to move fast. The heroes could come any minute."

"Fuck, you're right." He nervously moved quickly towards the crab villain and took the bags from him. "I'm sure the police won't give in to any of our demands. We'll get the bags ready and you will fly these out of here through the back. Then come back here for more. Got it?"

He hesitated for a moment but he eventually responded.

"Got it."

The smoky villain took the straps with both hands and turned himself and the bags into black smoke. As if blown by a strong wind, the smoke moved towards the back door but stopped mid-flight when loudspeakers blared from the police outside of the store.

"Attention, Villains! The doctor's here. I repeat. The doctor's here. He'll be heading towards the door."

Through one of the windows, Hermione could see a man wearing a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck. He was slowly walking towards the store's entrance with both of his empty hands up.

This was her chance. All their attention was towards the person approaching the door. Hermione started to subtly wriggle out of her bind. She noticed that Penny was watching her. Hermione wanted to reassure the older girl that everything would be alright. She hoped it was conveyed through her determined eyes. Then Penny nodded.

"Fuck. Now what?" The smoke spoke. His voice sounded as if it passed through a revolving fan.

"Same plan. Be careful, Blaise. Don't let anyone see you. We'll handle this. Go!"

Black smoke drifted towards the back while the masked man stood in front of the hostages. He shifted his weapon and with shaking hands pointed it at the door. Hermione noticed how she could easily snatch the gun from his incorrect grip. The problem was how to position herself from where she was crouched down.

"Greg, bag the books faster. Vince, get over here and unlock the door."

The two large villains followed the masked man's orders. The doctor was already by the entrance. Slowly, the crab-headed villain unlocked the door. His pincers were large and menacing.

"Don't expose yourself, Vince."

"Okay, Draco." The crab-headed villain remained hidden from outside view by standing behind the door. He only made a small opening at the entrance.

"Won't you open the door wider?" The man outside asked loudly.

"Squeeze through, doctor," the villain said.

The doctor slid through the small gap with his hands still up in the air then stumbled and crashed to the floor face first because of his own foot. Crab-head quickly locked the door again. They all heard a sharp gasp from the doctor when the man saw the menacing crab-headed villain towering over him. Then the villain pulled the doctor up by his collar.

"W-where's the injured hostage?" The trembling doctor asked.

"Right there." The crab villain pointed at the counter. Harry still lay on the floor motionless.

"You don't have anything on you aside from that damn stethoscope? Do you at least have a healing quirk?" Asked the masked villain irritatedly.

"Y-yes."

"My friend's leg got pierced by a nail. Heal him first."

The doctor gestured at the unconscious teen.

"But the hostage-"

"He's quirkless." The masked man pointed at the still crying professor. "That guy blabbed that he studies at St Brutus. Who cares if he dies?"

"Okay! Alright. I'll heal your friend first. Where is he?"

The masked villain gestured towards his injured friend with his rifle. The villain that Hermione had hurt with a nail gun looked like a troll once more. But before he could point his rifle back towards the doctor again, Hermione jumped on the back of the masked villain. Determined to redeem herself, she made sure that her jump was high enough that her arms went over his shoulders.

Hero Memo had accomplished to grab her target. Using her weight, she managed to pull the gun up and lodge the metal body of the rifle underneath the villain's throat trying to choke him out. The masked villain croaked a gasp.

"DRACO!" Both of the larger villains shouted before running towards their friend.

"Ah, fuck," the doctor said. His black hair started to turn pink at the tips.

Then the doctor took something out of his pocket and threw it up in the air. It was a small blinking flat disc only a few centimeters bigger than pound sterling. Memo immediately recognized it. A c-flash! It was a support item trending among the hero students at Hogwarts, especially the Gryffindors. She screwed up her eyes tight before it exploded, producing a blinding flash of light and a loud bang.

Next, the windows exploded inwards and red blurs had jumped in. They rained fireworks towards the two large villains. Even though her ears were ringing, Memo held onto the rifle as tight as she could.

The masked man struggled vigorously at her chokehold. Pain exploded at her side. His elbow had hit the right side of her torso hard. She lost strength in her arms and had let go when his elbow hit for the second time.

Quickly, after he got freed from her grasp, the masked man swung his rifle around and hit Memo's face with the end of his gun. She tasted blood. Hermione lost her balance and fell a step back. The gun was pointed at her and she felt the time had slowed down. She was about to get shot directly to the head.

But luckily, before he could manage to properly put his finger over the trigger, a large green snake had struck. The serpent had its long green body coiled around his arms in no time. Its fangs sunk deep into the villain's forearm that made him drop his weapon. Then while the masked man screamed, a hero dressed in dark green to almost black hero suit punched his lights out.

It's done. They were safe. Hermione collapsed to the floor and cried. Her eyes immediately sought her friend. She saw him with his eyes open. His eyes were brightly lit green. But she blinked and Harry's eyes were closed.

-xxx-

Harry was almost a year old when he saw the tall glass tanks filled with murky water. His mum, who was carrying him, went pale when she saw them. Then her face scrunched up when she spotted the grim old man standing beside the large glass tanks.

Her face turned red in anger. The same shade as her hair. She handed Harry over to his dad before charging at the old man. Angry accusations were yelled while she pointed at the glass tanks. The child could not understand. All Harry could gather was that something was supposed to have ended and that his mum was tired of the old man's lies.

In wanting to break up the fight, his dad went towards his mum and the old man. Harry covered his ears. The loud harsh voices from the adults troubled him. As the father and son went nearer the two, they also got closer to the tanks. At a closer distance, Harry could see what was inside those murky waters. Floating inside the glass tanks were grotesque shapes. Harry was truly scared.

The child doesn't want to go closer to the weird floating things so he squirmed to get away but his dad held him tight. His dad reached the two adults but they also stopped beside one of the tanks that held a very tall thin man. While the adults conversed, Harry watched the man behind the glass. His eyes were closed and he didn't seem to be moving.

Even though he was scared, Harry couldn't take his eyes away. The man was skin and bones. The other part that intrigued the child, however, was the scales that covered him. They look quite pretty when the light shines over them.

He placed his tiny hand onto the glass and patted it twice. Then the man inside the tank popped his eyes open. Harry's green eyes met the man's crimson red. The shock made the child shut his eyes tight. He snuggled further inside his dad's arms while he trembled.

Then the angry screaming had stopped and everything was calm.

Harry was on the floor of his parent's laboratory when he opened his eyes. He wore different night clothes and he saw the glass tanks surrounding him. The water inside them wasn't murky anymore. It was clear and the tank was filled with different colored wires and bubbles. The creatures floating inside them looked healthy in their sleep.

He giggled and ran towards one that held a sleeping mutant baby. But his short baby legs got caught onto something and he fell. In the middle of the cold tiled floor was his dad. Harry's legs were caught by his father's antlers. Blood pooled underneath him and his eyes looked dead.

But somehow the scene did not bother him.

"Here, Harry. Child of chaos. Come and have a look," an eager whispered voice said behind a plastic curtain deeper down the laboratory. With tiny baby steps, the child went to where the voice was coming from.

The curtain slid open to reveal his trembling mum. Her arms had sprouted large thorny vines. He remembered it was her quirk. She was looking down at all the blood that covered her. The tall thin man was behind her and he was smiling.

"Do you see, my beautiful child? Isn't she-"

-xxx-

"Lovely," said the injured boy in Tom's arms after he opened his eyes and looked at his crimson gaze. The boy had bright green eyes before dimming into forest green. Then he fell into unconsciousness again. Tom blinked in confusion. All of the people here said this boy he was carrying was quirkless. He wondered if the report was wrong.

The demon twins were beside him and had witnessed everything.

"Look Gred!"

"Oooh! Not bad, snake boy!"

Their cursed back and forth banter started again. Tom just wanted them to be done.

"First day on the job,"

"And not only did the snake boy won himself a quid,"

He expected them to end with a flourish. In that twin-speak he can't fathom how they could both say the same thing at the same time. But it seemed like that wasn't always the case.

"But he also bagged a live prey!" One of them predictably said. But the other ended his sentence with something different.

"But he also bagged a pretty boyfriend!"

They both stopped and looked at each other for a moment before falling into fits of laughter. He was not amused. The deadweight in his arms wasn't getting any lighter. Then one of the devil twins slapped Tom's bottom before cackling and running away with his brother.


	6. Chapter 6 - Bleeding Magic

The sudden weightlessness shocked Harry awake. He recognized the whirring sounds from flying drones, then a cloth-like material wrapped around his body and prevented him from falling completely. Vertigo hits and he groaned at the unwelcome throbbing of his aching head. His heart thrashed inside his chest. Harry wondered if his aunt had hit him with the frying pan but harder than the last time.

"You should be careful, hero! You could've made my patient's injury worse. I could get your license revoked just for that action alone." He heard a stern woman's voice from right beside him and Harry could feel her lightly place her cold hand on his forearm.

"Hello, my name is Wilda and I'm a paramedic. I'm here to help you. Please, try to relax while I adjust your cot and check your vitals." He heard her fiddle with a tech attached to her arm and Harry held his breath in. He was confused as to what exactly was going on.

The cot whirred to life and gently arranged itself into an inclined position. It also radiated enough heat and made the surface much softer than before. The teen let out a long drawn breath as his body sunk deeper in comfort. After that, he could hear a small drone circling and beeping around his head. He figured it was probably the tech that the paramedic was using to do the scan.

"I apologize. It was an accident," the hero said in a monotone voice. Harry forgot he was still there. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the blurry outline of the hero the paramedic was talking to. The teen was puzzled about why a hero would be involved in the first place.

"I still have to report your behavior to your supervisor. What is your name, hero?"

Harry heard a soft grunt before the hero spoke succinctly in a confident tone.

"Hero Voldemort."

The teen squinted and tried to focus his eyes but his vision remained fuzzier than what he was used to. Though at that moment, snippets of what had happened earlier started to come back to him. He remembered the troll villain and the black smoke but nothing after that. He assumed that the heroes came in the end and rescued them. He hoped his friend was alright and nobody else got hurt aside from him.

Harry slowly glanced around for his friend and immediately recognized the big blurry brown hair of Hermione in the distance. She was standing and she was busily talking to two blurry tall figures, which was somewhat of a good news for him in regards to her physical wellbeing. Harry's hand patted his pockets and head. He was very disappointed when his fingers felt no plastic frames on his face.

"Perfect," the teen said to no one before muttering a curse. Another added expense he couldn't afford if his prescription glasses were truly gone. Then Hero Voldemort startled him by leaning in so close to his face that he could make out the familiar details in his crimson eyes.

"Hey, back off! Give the patient some breathing space!"

'Wait, why were they so familiar?' Harry thought, then his brain added, 'And what's with that frown?'

"Your pretty face might get stuck with lines that way, you know," the teen's unfiltered mouth said out loud.

Voldemort stepped away from him with a muttered 'Tsked'.

The man was handsome. He also felt his face heat up after noting that this young hero was totally his type. Then the dashing hero turned to walk away from him, but Harry heard him murmured a, "Must be a trick of the light," while shaking his head a little bit.

"See to it that it doesn't happen again!" Voldemort didn't even acknowledge the paramedic's shout with any kind of response.

"What a git. Can't believe Hero Warlock would hire someone like him in the order," the medic ranted while she rummaged through her medical supplies.

At this moment, Harry barely paid the paramedic any attention. Even if his vision was still blurry, he noticed that the two tall figures had stopped talking with his friend. He wanted to get her attention, but then, the teen recognized the uniform of other medical personnel that went to assist her. He decided to leave her alone for now.

Consequently, Harry noticed that the two tall individuals were headed towards his direction. He recognized one of them as they got nearer. Media's favorite hero to write hate articles about, Hero Warlock.

Harry wanted his autograph. If he could get out of the straps around his torso, he would have already started to run towards them, but it looks like the two men were in a heated debate and it would be rude to intervene.

The teen contemplated that he could probably earn a bit of money too if he could sell the autograph. But he decided in the end that he wanted to keep it for himself even though he was strapped for cash. Unlike so many others, Harry was not a diehard fan of heroes. He doesn't own any hero merch and he doesn't keep up with the latest gossip about them. Granted he doesn't have any money to spare for such frivolities, but Warlock would always remain as an inspiration for him.

"And you, it might be the slight concussion affecting your actions but here's a word of advice, don't fall for guys like him." His paramedic pointed a disinfectant spray bottle at her fidgeting patient. Harry blushed again when he remembered the young hero from earlier.

"I didn't fall on my own. He threw me over like a sack of potatoes."

The two conversing men just passed his cot. If he doesn't get their attention now, he'll lose his chance for an autograph.

"I don't know if you're joking or my Snitch Drone's busted. That's it. I'll do a manual assessment." She pulled out a tablet with a stylus underneath the cot. "Will you tell me your full name please?"

The teen sighed. He doesn't have a chance to leave and run after Hero Warlock in the first place, not with a paramedic hounding after his arse.

"My name's Harry James Potter. Um miss, can you please-"

Then Harry was interrupted when the tall man beside Warlock had paused suddenly after hearing his name. Very slowly, the man turned to face him. Harry was quite creeped out. He gently walked towards him as if afraid to spook Harry away. And although the teen couldn't exactly see clearly, from the decreasing distance between them, he could discern that the man was very pale with an expression that says he had seen a ghost.

"What did you say your name was?" The man's voice was deep and calm but with a certain edge to it. Harry could feel the hair on his body rise. He was much closer now and the teen wanted to take his previous thoughts back. From the sallow skin, dark eyes with dark eyebags, hooked nose, the slightly pointed and crooked teeth, plus the completely black attire, the man in front of him, was the classic definition of a fictional vampire. Harry wondered if his quirk was vampiric in nature too. The teen certainly doesn't want to find out.

The vampire stood right in front of him and Harry had to lean his head back a bit just to be able to look up.

"H-harry James Potter, sir." The teen couldn't help but be respectful when he could see those sharp fangs.

"Albus, we need to talk about this," the sallow man quietly said.

Harry wondered for a second who the vampire was talking to. Then his forest-green eyes snapped back to old Hero Warlock when he heard him speak.

"Severus I-"

"Later," the vampire cut the old man off on what he was trying to say before he snappily turned his dark eyes towards the paramedic. "Status."

"I, Uh, um, the p-patient has a mild concussion and a bit of swelling just over his right temple. His cut had already clotted. I was about to clean it after I made my manual assessment, sir."

"Very well." He then placed both his large hands on both sides of Harry's head with his spindly fingers carded through his messy black hair.

"Look directly into my eyes and don't try to fight it, Mister Potter."

The man's black eyes lost all semblance of light, reflection, and color. There were only two black holes in front of him that wanted to suck him in. Harry knew he wouldn't be able to break whatever connection the man was trying to do.

"What-what are you going to do?" The teen shakily asked.

"Stop talking. I'm trying to do you a favor."

Exactly after his words were uttered, pain ripped through Harry's head. The teen wanted to scream but his whole body had frozen up and his jaw had locked. He couldn't even blink or look away though he tried very hard.

"I said, stop fighting me!"

Harry could see blackened veins slowly appearing on the man's face. His teeth were getting longer and sharper too. Blood started to leak from his crooked nose and the corners of his grimaced mouth. He did not know how much time had passed but the vampire had finally removed his hands from Harry's head. The man quickly faced the floor and vomited thick black blood. Meanwhile, Harry was slumped on his medical cot panting while he cradled his head.

"Well done, Severus. My boy, you're all better now." Hero Warlock gave the teen's shoulder a soft pat while handing the vampire a handkerchief.

"Medic, give him a painkiller and some water then he could go. He's all healed." He heard the vampire say after the blood was wiped away from his mouth.

The teen groaned as the two men walked away. Though he was thankful for what the man did, Harry didn't fully believe him. His headache was worse. It felt like his head wanted to explode. And to top it all off, he still didn't get Warlock's autograph.

-xxx-

Tom Riddle was a bit crossed when the police had driven the small crowd of journalists away before order members had arrived. He was leaning on the side of the ambulance, hidden behind the open door of the vehicle and was sending a message to Percy's backup phone when Half-Blood made a scene.

He wasn't the only one who witnessed it. Whispers had started when they were done. Eventually, both of the older heroes started to walk away after the underground hero had healed the injured boy. It was quite out-of-character for the man whom Tom had known for years. Half-Blood hated the backlash of his quirk. The underground hero doesn't use it if it wasn't a truly dire situation. With his curiosity piqued, the young hero followed them with a generous distance between them.

They were outside of the boundary the police had taped and were headed towards their car. It was still quite far from where they were but Half-Blood was already weakened and was about to fall. Fortunately, the old man was fast enough to catch him. Dumbledore then guided themselves towards an empty alleyway a few steps from them. As quietly as he could, Tom climbed the residential walls adjacent to it until he reached the balcony. He crouched low and hid amongst the plants.

In the small space between the hydrangea leaves, Tom could see Half-Blood eating several medicine tablets dry. Then he rested his head on the brick wall while he breathed in and out heavily before he spoke.

"First my student and now this!"

Something heavy dropped beside Tom. He was surprised to see Luna Lovegood trying to find a good position beside him. He scowled at the fifteen-year-old Ravenclaw while Lovegood just smiled with her wide unblinking eyes.

"Tell me, Albus. Do you have any more bombs you want to drop on me for today?"

Their attention was brought back to the two older heroes.

"I honestly didn't know the boy was here." Dumbledore's hands were displayed in a placating way while Tom could see Half-Blood heaving.

"Fuck. You. You told everyone the boy was dead!"

"I told all of you he was gone."

Semantics. Tom wanted to bark out a laugh at the old man's manipulations. Whatever this was, it looks like it had happened years ago. And that quirkless boy was somehow important to Half-Blood. Tom wonders who the others were.

The underground hero remained silent. Tom could only guess if Half-Blood was now seeing the old man in a new light, but he doubted that this could tarnish the underground hero's loyalty to Warlock.

"I apologize if you thought it that way." Dumbledore wistfully said. Then Half-Blood spoke so softly that the two younger heroes strained to hear what he had asked next.

"Does the boy even know about his mother, Albus? Or even that crazy mutt perhaps?"

The old man tried to comfort him but the underground hero twisted his arms away from his grasp. Dumbledore sighed before he replied.

"It's dangerous for him to know about his family. He might seek them out and get himself killed in the process."

"They are not his family anymore!"

"I know that, Severus. We all grieved for the friends we had lost during those troubled times." The old man spread his arms away from his body before he continued. "And let's be honest. I knew you wouldn't care for Potter's son. That's why I brought him to those who would.

"He's still got… he got Lily's eyes, Albus. He's also Lily's child."

"The boy's quirkless. He doesn't belong in our dangerous world. Don't you want to preserve that innocence, Severus? Don't you want to let the boy live and have a peaceful life?"

Tom wanted to gag. He could already see Half-Blood's reforming determination in every word the old man says.

"And it's our job to make sure he does have one," the underground hero replied then walks away followed shortly by Dumbledore.

Half-Blood didn't wobble. He also didn't sway. But Tom knew that the underground hero could only recover from his quirk's adverse reaction after several hours of rest.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop," Lovegood commented.

"But you listened to them with me," Tom replied.

"Yes, I did."

He sighed as he stood up.

"Then report me if you want. Makeup stories. I know you'll be excluded and I'll get punished by Dumbledore."

He contemplated if he should retrace his steps but looking over the balcony, he decided it would be faster if he just jumped down from where he was.

"Why would I want to do that?" She tilted her head as she asked.

"Then why did you follow me if not to rat me out?"

"Hero Tonks asked me to find you. She said if she asked the twins, you three would probably return all bloody. She wanted to regroup and check our status before we head back to headquarters."

"Bloody… Fine! Fine."

Tom jumped over the balcony's railing, landed and rolled gracefully, and got up on one bent knee before he stood up straight. Lovegood clumsily followed him. She landed successfully but she tripped after her roll and fell on her face. Tom ignored her and trudged back towards their issued van. The fifteen year old ran towards his side.

"And besides, I could understand the basic human nature in wanting more information about a curious situation." There was a scratch on her cheek and her nose was bleeding but Tom didn't point it out. He knows she could feel it.

"May I ask, if you've somehow glimpsed some files about this Harry Potter in the order's database earlier?"

"Oh, yes."

She finally wiped the blood away but it smeared across her other cheek. Tom grunted in frustration. Why couldn't she just give him what he wanted to know?

"What did you find then?"

"That he just turned sixteen years old last July. He studies in St Brutus. He's quirkless and the son of a deceased hero named Prongs and someone redacted. Other files that had any connection to him even if they seemed insignificant were encrypted and could only be opened with a higher clearance."

"Huh. That was indeed curious."

They were already in front of their van's closed sliding door.

"But what's curiouser was that they got one detail wrong."

Tom inclined his head as he placed his hand on the door handle.

"And what's that?" He asked.

"I could sense a quirk because of how my quirk could only work on another person's quirk."

"So. You're telling me…"

"Nobody was quirkless inside that bookstore, Tom."

Of course, Tom had already doubted the boy was truly quirkless when he saw his glowing green eyes. And that was all there was to it. Dumbledore wouldn't leave out somebody useful to his cause after all.

"Lovegood, his quirk could be something useless like green flashing eyes. That's why he was deemed quirkless in his records."

"Hmm…" Lovegood tilted her head again. She seemed lost in thought.

Tom was much more interested in the mystery of the boy's mother, this crazy mutt, and Half-Blood's connection to them, than somebody useless the doctors just went and wrote 'quirkless' in his records. He also wanted to know what the dirt that the old man wanted to hide and how he could use it.

Tom slid the door open and Tonks yelled something about their poor baby followed by the twin's firecrackers.

-xxx-

It was late in the evening by the time Binaural had returned to the warehouse. She could only bring one quirkless little girl with her for tonight. A meager number than her usual.

It would be bad if the boss was back and found out about her. Because there's still a high chance that they could be late bloomers and develop a quirk later on, their boss generally doesn't want to take children under the age of eleven. But she hoped the little girl would be enough for now. Her little prey only needs a few months until she's ready for harvest after all.

They were standing in front of the large heavy metallic gate. Binaural rang the doorbell for the second time. The guard would unlock the entrance from the inside when he sees her, but currently, the camera was stuck in one angle even though the light was on. After seeing a metamorph quirk in person, Binaural realized how shitty their security was and that they have to change it or else they'll be at risk of infiltration.

Finally, after a few minutes of waiting in silence with the dazed child, the camera moved to face them. Binaural pulled her hood down and waved at the camera. They really have to shake things around here.

The gate slid open to the side with a heavy groan and Binaural steered the little girl in who followed her guidance without any protest. When they were both inside, the gate slid back into place.

They walked in a badly lit corridor. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the long dark empty space. At the end of the corridor, a buff man in his fifties who was fully armed with a gun and stun baton was waiting for them beside another metallic door.

"Took a long dump, Runcorn? Where are the others?"

Instead of answering her though, Runcorn pointed his baton towards the little girl.

"What the fuck, Binaural. Why did you bring a kid here for?"

The little girl looked back at him with glassy eyes. They still got a few minutes left before Binaural's quirk wears off.

"She's ten. We could make use of her around here for a few months before we take her organs out."

"Bloody hell. As if we got food reserve for her. This is supposed to be a slaughterhouse man, not a bloody daycare."

Binaural pulled a lever on the wall to open the door. She guided the child inside the office and took a seat for herself on one of the leather couches.

"Then give her my share. I'm mostly out doing fieldwork anyway." She stretched both her arms upwards, cracked her neck then began to massage her shoulders. "God, I'm exhausted."

"Are you sure nobody big's gonna look for this kid?" Runcorn was still eyeing the little girl who was staring at nothing.

"She's no one. Her parents died in a villain attack. Then she ran away from the orphanage because they treated her terribly for being quirkless. She's only been living a couple of days in the streets. Tried to pickpocket me but I caught her and I offered to buy her a meal. A bit starved but she's healthy. I've already checked."

Runcorn sighed and took a seat on the other couch facing her.

"I'll go deal with her and mark up your points when she's ready then. Good timing, anyway. The boss is still away, planning for that farm project with that maniac from Cheshire."

"Thanks. I owe you one. Where are they anyway?"

"Fletcher's trailing a target, I believe. He's one shite snatcher I tell you. Only brought one when he first joined and lost the rest afterward. Gibbon got caught by the police again, so Jugson and Mulciber were out to bail him while Avery works on the charges. And the rest went to the bars except for Macnair. He's busy at the back."

While Runcorn was talking, Binaural stood up and went to the fridge.

"Getting a head start with the livers I presume. Beer?"

"Can't. I've taken my meds. And no, he's working in something more delicate. One of our contacts asked for a pair of corneas."

Binaural whistled. That one's expensive. She took a can of lights for herself and took a pack of pineapple juice that Runcorn always drinks for his hypertension. The man nodded his thanks after she gave it to him. Then he gestured towards the girl.

"You're on a roll, Binaural! You only need one more and you'll reach your quota for this month alone. August barely even started, mind."

She gulped down her cold beer for a bit then laughed.

"I want that bonus so bad, Runcorn."

The little girl was blinking rapidly and had begun to sway. She was starting to gain awareness. Binaural immediately stood up and went towards her.

"Wait, let me renew my hold."

She placed both of her vibrating fingers near the child's two ears. Her quirk lets her generate soft vibrations on the tips of her fingers that produce sound waves in a binaural beat, which in turn lets her alter her victim's state of consciousness using different kinds of frequencies.

"Hush, little one. Everything's going to be alright."

The little girl exhaled. She was back in her dream state.

"We should move her to a cage for now. Just to be safe," said Runcorn.

Binaural hated going there but he was right.

"Sure."

The door creaked and the whine echoed loudly when Runcorn pushed it open. Most of them were asleep. Some were wide awake. Demented eyes watched them in the dark while they ambled along the metal cages.

The room was damp, dark and smelled of foul human remains. The pigs who got stored at this place had already lost an organ or two. They were sedated but they still tend to get crazy when the lights are on. She doubted that any of them were sane. So they would only endure their screeches when they needed to move them all along. Otherwise, it was better to use torches to navigate.

"Why can't we hide her somewhere in the waiting chamber?" She asked.

Freshly caught pigs were put there. All of them were drugged and immobilized by a quirk. All of them are ready to be dissected. Not that their conditions were any better but at least that place was quiet. It would be stupid for them to put the girl there in case somebody discovered her and betray her to the boss, but Binaural really hated the cages.

"I don't want her there," Runcorn replied. They finally found an empty cage and Binaural guided her in.

"Afraid she might be enough stimulus to wake the paralyzed pigs?" She asked humorously.

"No. With all this heat after the heroes and the ministry got wind of our operation, the other snatchers, those who you liked to avoid? They had been complaining that a snatcher's job ain't that easy anymore."

Binaural huffed and locked the little girl's cage.

"I could understand them a bit. I wish the boss would realize we need to lay low for a few months at the very least. Instead, he increased the demands just so he could select candidates for the farm. Just give it time, Runcorn. What the ministry did could be an opportunity for us. It would drive all the quirkless pigs right into our traps. So, what did those bastards do this time?"

"They raped them. Said it was better to use them now while they're still warm and clean, and not drooling with madness. Said it helps them to relieve them of their stress."

They were both silent for a minute then Binaural asked with a sneer.

"Who? The pigs or the bastards?"

Afterward, one of the mad prisoners started shouting.

"DIE! YOU CUNT! FILTHY DEGENERATE PARASITE!" The pig managed to get their gnarly hands tangled with her hair and pulled hard. Runcorn pulled his baton from his belt. He pushed the switch on. With the baton's electricity fired up, Runcorn stunned the bitch. She wasn't fully unconscious though. She only dropped to the floor of her cage moaning and sobbing.

"Me? You think I'm the parasite?!" Binaural spat at her. Her saliva hit the pig's face. "You're the filthy scum of this earth, pig!"

"C'mon." She was about to kick her but Runcorn dragged her out of the room by pulling her upper arm. He immediately locked the heavy door with a bang.

"What was that about, Binaural?"

"It's that pig's fault!"

"No, Penny. You're not like this."

Binaural activated her quirk and listened to the beat. She was calm enough after a few seconds.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so tired, Albert."

Runcorn shifted towards her and pulled her hoodie up. He rubbed her shoulders before he commented.

"Then go home and get some rest."

Her flat was a long way out from where the warehouse was. After walking quite a mile on foot to get back to civilization, Binaural had no energy left to get on the Night Tube. So she used her phone and called a cab.

Inside her taxi, she got lost in her thoughts. Binaural regretted her earlier actions. The others treated her differently because she's their best snatcher even though she's a woman. Runcorn was her only friend in that organization and she cannot afford to lose his trust. She's tired with her job though and she's tempted to just lay low for awhile. But she's so near to her goal that she felt driven to get it done and get her reward.

The next morning, Penelope Clearwater dressed to what she deemed 'a traumatized teen in need of comfort' look. No make-up, soft comfy jogging pants, a snug knitted sweater, and a beat-up loafer.

It's Sunday and the bookstore's probably still a mess because of the altercation yesterday. She passed by a café near her flat and bought a lot of pastries and coffee for her friends. Harry might be there helping her clean the place up. If not, maybe she could convince the boorish girl to visit him with her later on. She did let it slip that her quirkless friend had a difficult life with his relatives. Added to the fact that the poor boy got hurt yesterday too. Penny needed to see that he's alright to feel better. Hermione won't stop her from getting to know more about her crush, right? Besides, Binaural could probably convince her.

-xxx-

Harry James Potter was proud to tell all his remaining crispy fried brain cells that he finally has a job.

"Are you listening to me, you ungrateful waste of space?"

Their old dishwasher had made a wise decision to retire early this year. It was now enjoying its permanent vacation back in the garage. Harry would miss it dearly.

"There'll be no allowances coming from us! We have given you enough."

Look at his poor poor hands, already as wrinkly as a prune because the Dursleys refused to buy a new one or to at least get their broken machine fixed.

"And I won't let your issues about your freakishness,"

Free leftovers every night.

"Drag my family down with you!"

His compensation as the Dursley's new dishwasher was so appetizing, he's afraid he might get as fat as his whale of an uncle.

"Is that clear, boy?"

But with how much his uncle and cousin eat every day, he'll have to count himself lucky if he somehow finds a tiny piece of scrap left.

"Crystal, uncle Vernon."

The Dursleys who all have quirks don't want anything to do with it. Just like all the belittling versions he had heard since he was small. It's a quirkless problem, so quirkless Harry has to deal with it himself.

A few minutes of scrubbing in peace, his uncle gave him his chore for the day, aside from all the routine chores he had to do, of course.

"You will repaint the fence after you're finished with the dishes. I want to see it done before dinner."

"Yes, uncle Vernon."

Vernon Dursley has a mutation quirk that made most parts of his body a literal whale. A Bryde's Whale that has let himself go, to be exact. Whereas a real ocean whale could be considered graceful and magnificent to watch, his uncle was not. He's just big, loud and eats anything by loads.

Harry could hear the strain on his uncle's chair while the man of the house was busy reading news articles on his tablet. Poor dining chair, its job was way harder than the teen. It's the only shield protecting the floor from his uncle's bottom.

Finally, all the plates, cups and bowls were set on the drying rack. Harry wanted to check up on Hermione to see if she needed help around the shop, but he couldn't leave the house until his uncle could see some work done on the fence at least. He also doesn't have any phone to contact her at the moment. The Dursleys won't allow him to use their landline even if it was an emergency. Whatever. He'll just have to be fast with this chore. He went to the garage to prepare for his task.

Harry at least had a short reprieve last night. The Dursleys came home late in the afternoon from their three-day vacation somewhere in Thames. They were all dead tired and treated Harry as if he didn't exist. And whatever that vampiric man did yesterday was great. After the painkiller had taken effect, the teen didn't feel any headache. Even his anxiety about his future was quite dampened. It felt like his future wasn't that bleak anymore. It's not that he's happy overall but the numbness helps keep him moving.

It was a different story this Sunday morning though. His aunt and uncle had caught up with all the news before breakfast had even started. When aunt Petunia noticed that her husband was about to start shouting again, she had to make the same old excuse of going out with her friends for a 'scheduled' gardening tips and tea. Harry can't blame the woman for her actions. She has a really sensitive hearing because of her quirk. However, she only uses it for hoarding gossip. But it was fortunate that his uncle doesn't have the same loudness of a real whale, or else the people living in Privet Drive would all be deaf.

Scraper, duster, and wire brush on hand, Harry was ready to prep the fence before painting. But what he saw when he walked out the backyard was Dudley on one of his workout routines.

His cousin, Dudley Dursley, also had the same quirk as his father. The only difference was that Dudley discovered his love for boxing, while uncle Vernon loves anything about finance. He still does eat loads of food, but at least he works out a lot to turn them into muscle. One of his matches from his amateur days was uploaded on the internet and it went viral. Soon, scholarship and sponsors started appearing left and right. It was to no surprise of everyone when he turned to professional boxing at the early age of fifteen. Now that he's seventeen, he only lost to one match and it's all because of a technicality.

Dudley would probably hate all the paint dust floating all around if Harry started scraping the fence when it's a little bit windy outside.

"Hey Dudley, would you mind moving to your room instead? I have to scrape the fence."

"Go. And. Plunk. Your. Head. In. The. Toilet. Harry." His cousin said while doing his pushups.

"Well, I did warn you, Champ." Harry said then murmured, "Extra sprinkles, coming right up."

Harry concentrated on scraping old paint from the wooden fence for about ten minutes when he noticed a weird shadow. Then a two hundred pound dumbbell soared over his head and crashed the wooden planks of the fence he was currently scraping.

"Muuuuuuum! Daaaaaad! Harry made me crash the fence with all the dust he's making!"

After his cousin got rejected to all hero schools he had applied to, it was great to see that his cousin found fame and all. Harry was even happy for him because all his pent up energy could be poured over his training, instead of chasing him around the neighborhood back when they were still kids. But Dudley was still somewhat of a bully.

Their back porch shook then out came his bloated whale uncle.

"Boy! Fix that damn fence or you will never eat a single meal ever again!"

Ouch. There goes his nightly scrappy meal.

His uncle ordered him to buy replacement lumber for the fence. Harry thought for a bit if he could somehow find a cheaper material so he could pocket some of the change. But then his uncle would just audit the receipts and he'll be in so much trouble afterward. So the teen resolved to enjoy his time at the mall while buying the most expensive lumber he could find within the budget his uncle gave him.

The hardware near them was a minimall of sorts with all the variety of shops and stalls. While searching for the perfect lumber for his fancy fence project, his eyes were immediately drawn towards the purple heart wood. But it did not take the cake. This new wood he would like to buy had a price that was way above the cash his uncle gave him, so he looked around the mall for a bit.

He went to phone stores and played around with the newest models, then checked his social media account and emails. Nothing was new except for the one suspicious email with the subject: Champ's about to get his payback! It was sent by one of his schoolmates to numerous people including him. At first, he thought the link was dead but he noticed the countdown at the top right corner. Harry didn't bother to commit it to memory though. He doesn't have time to take part in internet trends. Plus he doesn't really have a phone of his own at the moment.

He signed all of his accounts off and removed them from the device settings, but then he noticed an online app store. Browsing around, he saw the same hardware store with the expensive lumber, selling their products in this app. He quickly checked around their online store and yes! That one fancy piece of wood was in their online catalog!

Well, well, well. It was time to have fun.

"Five pieces of African Blackwood lumber. Delivered to one Vernon Dursley. Cash-on-Delivery."

Harry cackled as he input his address. His uncle might just return it but it was still an inconvenience for him. But with how arrogant his relatives were though, they might actually keep the purchase.

"That is one evil scheme. Who is this Vernon Dursley and what did he do to you?" A familiar voice suddenly spoke over his right shoulder. Harry spun around to face the stranger and gasped.

"Well hello there, dashing hero of mine. Are you here to make me fall all over you this time?"

Harry can't believe the words that came out of his mouth. The only appropriate response was to blush like a tomato and plant his face into his palm.


	7. Chapter 7 - I Wouldn't Love Me Neither

He had let go years ago and saw how his life had broken from the fall. Time had forced him to fit the jagged parts of himself but they felt foreign and misshapen. And now long lost pieces were starting to emerge and he doesn't know how to make them a part of himself once again.

Breaking. Severus Snape felt the small pieces left of him were about to break and he doesn't know if he could ever be whole.

He blinked and finally the coffee mug in front of him caught his attention. It was that infernal black mug with a 'Breathing is Overrated' print that his intern had left in the pantry. Somehow the damn thing would always end up on his table but he never really found anything worth complaining about.

"I never asked you to make me coffee," Severus said before he accepted it with a frown.

"You looked like you needed it, sir," Ms Granger replied then sipped her own beverage. He recognized hers as white tea just from the aroma but saw that she was using his mug's damned pair, the 'Dead Inside' white porcelain. She told him she bought the match from a café somewhere and it came with a cat. He forbade her to ever bring the cat to work. Surprisingly, she's one of the very few people he trusted enough to serve him any kind of beverage. The man blew on it a bit before taking a gulp.

"Sir, about Harry," she started but it seemed lost to her on how else to continue. The man understood however and he sighed heavily before he replied.

"We will talk about Mr Potter later. As my student, no, as his friend, whatever Warlock has told you, you do deserve to know a few things in case anything comes up. But for now," His cadence was slower than before. The only couple of hours of sleep he got certainly did not help him recover from his overexerted quirk use. He should've acted with more caution but seeing the boy after presuming him dead was a lot for him to take in. And now, another ghost had come out to haunt him. "For now, we'll have to deal with my errant godson."

A few seconds later, an angry Severus Snape stormed the interrogation room. Hero Mad-Eye was in the middle of one of his loud exclamations shouting, "I bloody hell want you to give me his location or else!"

"Or else what, Moody?"

He had planted himself between Mad-Eye and the bound masked villain , Draco Malfoy, effectively shielding the boy from the older hero's wrath.

"Are you nuts? One of them got free! I know this villain knew where he was. He's protecting his fellow criminals!"

Severus unlocked the chains connecting the boy to the table but left the quirk suppressant cuffs on his wrist. The frenzied Mad-Eye was ignored. Warlock, who was leaning casually on one side of the room with his arms crossed in front of his chest, met his gaze.

"He's still a child, Albus," the exhausted man pleaded.

"It does not mean what the boy did was right," Warlock quietly responded.

"I'm his legal guardian."

"We're not saying you aren't, Severus. But it was because of The Order that we were able to quickly transfer his custody to yours and we need information." The old man tried a placating tone but Severus was not appeased.

"The boy hasn't slept or had eaten anything yet!"

Then the ignored Mad-Eye intruded, adding fuel to the flames, "They already treated his bite wounds. I'd say his villainous hands deserved to rot!"

"He doesn't deserve to be treated as a criminal. And my godson is not a villain!" The boy flinched when he placed his hand on his shaking arm. With one last glare directed at both the older heroes, Severus pulled the boy out of the room.

After they had thoroughly briefed Ms Granger yesterday, Hero Warlock informed them that he strongly suspected what the boy was after within the bookstore was the same journal they had been looking for more than a decade. Marvolo's Diary . The implication of why he would look for something twisted and evil did not bode well for his godson.

Ms Granger had been tasked to find or to at least look out for it if the journal did enter the auction's circulation. It never did as far as her routine reports went. She had used her quirk and had memorized all the records the shop had in their database that dated back to their first auction period. She even recited it in front of him once. The journal was simply not there. His intern had already filed an updated report regarding it and the possible connection of the incident that occurred yesterday because of what Warlock had suggested.

They arrived at his private quarters and Severus pushed Draco towards the bed.

"Sit." The hero gently commanded. He started to perform the necessary checkup when the boy recoiled away from him.

"Don't you fucking touch me," the boy said when he tried to get closer again.

"Draco, I just want to see if your snake bite and the other bruises you've acquired during the fight are all better."

The boy had been missing for three years since his father had died from a villain attack. All efforts to find him seized when Draco sent the message to him and his mother that he doesn't want to be found. Severus would fight anyone who would stop him from looking for his godson though. For now, it worries him on why the boy had raged back at the station when the police had tried to take his mask off.

"I had a gun. I was ready to kill, Sev. I was ready," the boy's cuffed hands were starting to tremble.

"Yes you did but you didn't pull the trigger. It was good that you didn't." Severus slowly moved his hands towards the boy. "What has life done to you, Draco?" At that, the boy made a choked sound and his shoulders shook.

"I'm sorry, Sev. I'm so sorry," Draco cried then bawled hard. Then the man wrapped his arms around the shaking boy.

He saw from the corner of the room where his intern was standing at a distance with her quirk activated to record everything she'll see and hear, to take note of the little nuances of their actions and personality ticks to be further analyzed later on. He made sure that this particular room was devoid of any camera. No doubt it was Hero Warlock that ordered her to profile them or at least the crying boy in his arms.

-xxx-

Tom Riddle caught his eyes gravitating towards brilliant shades of green on multiple occasions for the rest of the day after his first official mission as a licensed hero. By the time he slept, he dreamt that he was swimming in it. His only conclusion with his emerald reverie was his fondness for that particular shade of green. A fondness pulled out from forgotten childhood daydreams after seeing the boy's glowing eyes.

Nevertheless, it wasn't exactly clear to Tom why he had spent almost two hours of his precious time with the said green-eyed boy in the cinema when he was only planning for a short trip to buy some mending equipment for his hero suit.

"You're a monster," the boy said when he was done wiping away his tears and blowing his nose. "Why did you laugh when the hero died?" He then threw away his soiled tissue into the trash.

Tom raised an eyebrow at the shorter teen when their eyes met before he rolled his eyes. "Because the movie's bad. Death's the only consolation for the wasted time you put me through."

"Monster," the boy blushed as he babbled the same thing again while he turned to walk towards the mall proper and Tom followed.

Tom was amused by the boy's foolish explanation a couple of hours earlier about his little trick laid out for his uncle. As they made their way towards the hardware store, he had tried to justify his actions whilst tripping upon his long-winded reasoning several times before he finally admitted on how stupid it really was and how it would inconvenience other people aside from his loathed relative. Still, the boy went through with it and also bought the fairly expensive pieces of wood that he had left with Tom's purchased supplies at the mall's baggage counter so they could enter the cinema without any of their heavy stuff.

By the time they were lining up at the cashier by then, the shorter teen tried to explain again how his uncle would be expecting something when he returns home later on. But the boy kept sneaking glances at Tom then blushing whenever their eyes met that made him stumble with his words even more. That was when the idiotic boy remembered he wasn't wearing any glasses.

The boy mulled over in astonishment on why he could see clearly, unintentionally holding up the line. Hence Tom was forced to take the boy's money from his hand so he could give the notes to the cashier's expecting hand. That was when he heard the boy gasp and when Tom turned at the shorter teen, he saw the same bright green-lighted eyes while looking at their grasping hands. His eyes brightened a bit more as he blushed to the tips of his ears when Tom pulled his hands away. When the boy's receipt was printed out, the cashier said they won a movie ticket for two. Then it dimmed into their normal forest green color once the boy had regained his composure.

After both of them had paid for their items, Tom told him that his eyesight would probably go back to its horrendous state at the end of the day because Half-Blood's quirk wasn't a cure-all for damages done after a twenty-four hour period had passed. He was about to leave him at that but the boy stopped him by pulling at his shirt.

"P-please watch this movie with me!" The boy with his face as red as a tomato said loudly that they caught the other shoppers' attention. "A-as you said, I'll be blind as a bat at the end of the day and the ticket will expire tomorrow."

Tom only raised an eyebrow at him.

"B-but if you don't want to it's alright." With trembling fingers, the boy slowly handed the tickets over with his right hand while his left held onto the tied pieces of lumber. "I have no use for it, so it's yours if you want to."

"God! Say yes, already!" Somebody from the watching crowd yelled at them.

"Aww, aren't they cute?" Another stranger commented to somebody else besides her.

Tom saw that they were being filmed via their phones. Then the older teen remembered that he's a hero who hadn't gotten a proper debut yet. The few journalists who were at the scene only made a short article regarding the incident, barely mentioning any names. One of them had irritatingly misspelled his hero name even. Every social media material, every scoop uploaded, everything about him will reflect and count when he finally gets the fame due to him. Plus, the boy has something to do with one of the heroes he highly respected and building a rapport with this bottom feeder would only be beneficial for him in the future. There's only one logical answer he could give the boy.

"Sure. It's a date then." Tom said with his best-winning smile and the boy awarded him with the rays of his shining emerald eyes while his face flushed even more.

Then somebody from the crowd shouted, "Hey, that's one of the new blokes who stopped the villains from yesterday's hostage crisis!" And the phones directed at them had increased.

One thing that stuck inside Tom's head as they walked towards the cinema while holding hands was that the boy's laser-ish eyes were getting a bit creepy. They've somehow also gotten free popcorn, drinks and a bunch of merch in the middle of all the green flashy hullabaloo.

In the end, the movie still stinks even though the boy was really moved by it. How unfortunate that Tom cannot help him improve his plebeian taste for the craft.

They were about to go their separate ways and had stopped in front of the baggage counter. The shorter teen extended his right hand towards Tom while his left rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, I guess, this is goodbye then. I really enjoyed watching the movie with you and, really, thank you for saving my life, Voldemort."

As Tom was about to shake his outstretched hand, the younger boy got distracted by something else and pulled away.

"Fuck. Dudley." The boy said it with a distressed groan. The older teen followed his gaze and it landed onto a beefy whale who was making a scene in one of the mall's stalls.

Note: And that's Chapter one to seven uploaded. phew. xD ffn's really confusing. I try to update weekly but might miss it atm because of fests and the charity auction I'm in. If you're curious about that, head onto my tumblr page (ladybirdsparrow). 3


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